Antiskid cross chain



Sept. 27, was. F E STAHL I 2,131,713 I I ANTISKID CROSS CHAIN Filed June 1, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l 'I Y liveniav v FRANK E.

STAHL Sept. 27, 1938; F. E. STAHL ANTISKID CROSS CHAIN Filed June 1,1937 2 Sheets-Sheet flveniov; FRA N K E 5 TA H L Patented Sept. 27, 1938 UNITED STATES 'ANTISKID oaoss C HAIN Frank E. Stahl, Tonawanda, N. Y.; Lillie M.

Stahl administratrix deceased of said Frank E. S tahl,"

A Application June 1, 1937, Serial No. 145,715

Claims.

has been, therefore, to provide a heavy duty cross chain for use on the tires of tractors or the like which will produce proper traction.

Another object has been to provide a cross chain having large links made from wire of relatively small diameter, thus making a chain which is very flexible, conforming itself readily to the tire without injury thereto under working conditions.

Moreover, it has been an object to provide a cross chain formed of two separate chains, the ends thereof being connected together and the links being interlaced, whereby when in traction position, the links will present a substantially unbroken surface to the road.

Furthermore, my invention is so designed that when it is being brought into its traction position, the links thereof will be relatively rotated forced toward each other and closely nested, whereby the substantially unbroken, nested arrangement above referred to willbe brought about.

Moreover, I place an initial twist in the chains of my device when attaching it to side chains of an antiskid device, so that when the chain is road, depending somewhat upon the amount of traction needed.

Furthermore, my device is very strong and.

of antiekid device.

The above objects and advantages have been accomplished by the device shown in the accompanying drawings, of which:

viewed from the tire engaging side.

Fig. 2 is a sectional, side elevation of my cross;

chain taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 arranged, for

convenience of illustration, along a straight line.

55 Fig. 3 is a side elevation of my device in'posion ther major axes and thus have their sides major axes starting at one end, whereby the de-.

durable and one which may be used on any form Fig. 1' is a top, plan view of my invention,

tion where it has been moved to one of its partial traction positions.

Fig. 41's aside elevation of my invention show ing all of the links in the position assumed when. the cross chain is in its full traction position, the links'being shownalongxa straight line, for clearness of illustration. j

Fig. 5 is a transverse, sectional' view of my invention with the links thereof in normal'posi tions, taken on line 5-5' ofFig. .1.

Fig. 6 is a View of my invention similarto Fig. 5 but is taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 3, and whenthe links are. in their traction positions.

My device comprises a plurality oflinks' arranged'intwo chain assemblies, the linksof each assembly being interlaced" with the links of the other assembly and each chain assembly being I independently attached to the'hook' link at each ,end of the device. Each of thelinks of my cross chain islarge andsmade from wire having a relatively small: cross-sectional area,

In the drawings, the. main chain assembly comprises links 5, 6, and In, each linkbeingsuit ably twisted on its major axis and interengaged With the next adjacent link. The middle link 6- is engaged with the end links 5 and), one of each of which is. located at each side of the middle link 6'. At each end ofthis assembly is provided a hook link H which is also twistedon its major axis. connected or engaged with a hook [2* by which-- my cross chain is attached to the links l3 of the side chains of an antiskid device or to the plates (not shown) of anemergency antiskid device;

The intermediate chain assembly comprises preferably two-links l4 and I5 which areinteren gaged at the center of the cross chain, as shown. Each ofthe links 5, 6, l0, ligand #5, as well as thehook links, are preferablyovar in form; each having a longitudinal axis of greater dimensionsthan the lateral axis. The. intermediatechain assembly' is formed at its endswithring-shaped links l6 and ll which serve to connect this assembly with thehook links H. The combined length: of this intermediate chain: assembly is substantially the :sameor' preferablyslightly greater thanthe length of the main chain assembly. The increased length is preferably for the reason that it is desirable that the ringshaped links. l6 and ll be disposed around the outside ends of the links-5 and Ill, respectively,- ofthe. main chain assembly, as clearly shown in the drawings. r

The links- M and [5; of the intermediate chain Each of these hook links is assembly are connected together, as hereinbefore pointed out, at the center of the cross chain,

and are also interwoven with respect to the central link 6 of the main chain assembly, the links I6 and I I being so proportioned as to hold the links of the two chain assemblies in definite spaced relation. The outer ends of the links I4 and I5 of the intermediate chain assembly are interlaced through the outer links 5 and IU of the main chain assembly, as clearly shown in the drawings.

As hereinbefore pointed out, the links of both chain assemblies, as well as the hook links II, are twisted. Such twisting is produced, in the course of manufacture, by placing the hook links II at the ends of the cross chain in a suitable device (not shown), and then relatively rotating them. -This twisting is carried on to such a degree that when the completed chain is attached to the side chains I3, the hook links II are relatively rotated through an angle of substantially 180 and, after such rotation, there will be some normal freedom of motion of the individual links because of the spaces indicated at 2!. These twists are so formed that one extreme end of the link is at an angle of substantially 90, or more, with the other extreme end of the link, such angle varying in the several links but approximating 90. This twist is clearly shown in the drawings, and in particular in Fig. 2; When the chain is in the normal position shown in Fig; 1, there will naturally be considerable space between the side portions of the links of the main assembly and the links of the intermediate chain assembly, as clearly shown at 2I in Fig. 5 and as also indicated in Fig. 2. As just above pointed out, when the cross chains are assembled to the side chains I3 of an antiskid device, there will be an initial twist in the cross chain between its ends when the hooks I2 are engaged with the side chains I3 or side plates (not shown) of the antiskid device and are in their normal positions. This initial twist, which is counterclockwise when viewed from the right hand side of Figs. 1 and 2, will produce a condition like that shown in Fig. 2 when the chain is resting upon the tire. This section is taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l and shows how the sides 22 of the links I6, 5, and I4 on the far side of the chain will-be in contact with the line 20, representing the road, the chain here represented being shown, for convenience of illustratration, in straight line form insteadof slightly curved as it would normally be. The initial twist in the cross chain, as viewed from the right hand end of the figures, being counterclockwise, any pressure, therefore, which is brought to bear upon the sides 22 of the links starting with the links I6, 5, and I 4, or any force which would tend to rotate them in clockwise direction, when viewed from the right hand end, as shown in the drawings,

will serve to first take up the spaces indicated at 2| in Fig. 5 and in doing so the links above mentioned will be relatively rotated so as to bring their sides 22, shown at the top of Fig. 1 and in elevation in Fig. 2, in contact with the road. The degree of rotative movement will, of course, be counteracted and resisted by the engagement of the ends of the cross chain with the side chain I3 of the antiskid device. the cross chain, therefore, as shown in Fig. 2, will be rotated substantially to the position shown in Fig. 3. If the amount of traction produced when the cross chain is in its partial traction position shown in Fig. 3 is not sufficient and additional traction is needed, then the three links above The left hand end of mentioned will be further rotated in clockwise direction (as viewed from the right hand end of the chain) and the spaces 2| between the adjacent sides 22 of the other links of the cross chain will be closed up by the relative rotation of successive links so as to bring the links into nested relation with each other. This relative rotation of the links will cause the entire cross chain to be so twisted as to bring the sides 22 of all of the links into traction position and so into contact with the road along the entire length of the cross chain, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. In this figure it will be seen that all of the sides 22 of the links of both chain assemblies which are toward the road are in traction position and form a substantially unbroken line of contact with the road or material overwhich the tire bearing my device is traveling, thus giving maximum traction. -When the links of my cross chain are in their nested and closed positions, hereinbefore described, their adjacent surfaces are brought in contact with each other, as clearly shown by the sectional view of Fig. 6. V

The operation of my device, as just above described, is that which results when the tire bearing' the same'is rotated in counterclockwise direction when viewed from the right hand end of the chain, and it is obvious that the sides 23 of the links will be brought into action starting with links H, I0, and I5 at the opposite end of the chain when the tire bearing the'same is rotating in'clockwise direction, as viewed from the same end of the chain.

As soon as the cross chains have been moved out of contact with the road or out of the material over which the tire is traveling, they will again assume their substantially normal positions, shown in Figs. 1 and 2. When assuming such positions, the links of the two chain assemblies will be relatively rotated back to their normal positions and otherwise relatively moved, and during such movement, the spaces between the links will be cleared or freed of any mud or other accumulation packed in between the links during movement of the device over the road.

Obviously, the links of the two chain assemblies will, under normal conditions, be loosely connected and will, therefore, be very flexible, so that the links will be free to contact flatly with the tire, thus-causing no injury to the tire. It will also be understood that due to the initial twist in-the cross chain, above described, the links will be held in such relative positions as to be in readiness at all times when traction is neededto closely nest and turn so as to present the sides of the links to the road. As above set forth, the amount of twist of the cross chain produced'by the amount of relative rotation of the adjacent links will determine the number of links which are brought into traction position and,,therefore, the amount of traction oiTered by the device.

.While I have shown and described my cross chain for use on large tires such as usedon tractors, it is obvious that the links of the cross chain may be made smaller and be adaptable for use onrrelatively smaller tires.

Obviously, some modifications of the details herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit of my'invention or the scope of the appended'claims, and I do not, therefore, wish to be limited to the exact embodiment herein shown and described, the form shown beingLmerely a preferred embodiment thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An antiskid cross chain, comprising a main chain assembly and an intermediate chain assembly, each assembly formed of interengaged, twisted links, the links of the intermediate assembly being interlaced with the links of the main assembly, each of the links being so formed that its extreme ends are at an angle of substantially to each other, so that the end links of the chain may be placed at an angle of substantially from each other, thereby placing an initial twist in the chain between its ends, where by when the chain is placed in traction service the adjacent links will be nested closely together and present a substantially unbroken surface.

2. An antiskid cross chain, comprising a main chain assembly formed of twisted links, a hook link at each end of the main chain assembly, an intermediate chain assembly formed of twisted links, the links of both chain assemblies being interlaced, and a ring link at each end of the intermediate chain assembly, each of said ring links contacting with and being attached to one of said hook links of the main chain assembly, whereby the intermediate chain assembly will take its share of the load placed upon the cross chain. r

3. An antiskid cross chain, comprising a main chain assembly and an intermediate chain assembly, each assembly formed of large, interengaged, twisted links made of wire having a relatively small cross-sectional area, the links of the intermediate assembly being interlaced with the links of the main assembly, each of the links being so formed that its extreme ends are at an angle of substantially 90 to each other, so that the end links of the chain may be placed at an angle of substantially 180 from each other, thereby placing an initial twist in the chain between its ends, whereby when the chain is placed in trac- 7 tion service the adjacent links will be nested closely together and present a substantially unbroken surface.

4. An antiskid cross chain, comprising a main chain assembly and an intermediate chain assembly, each assembly formed of interengaged, twisted links, the links of the intermediateassembly being interlaced with the links of the main assembly, each of the links being so formed that its extreme ends are at an angle of substantially 90 to each other, so that the end links of the chain may be placed at an angle of substantially 180 from each other, thereby placing an initial twist in the chain between its ends, and means for limiting the rotation of the cross chain upon its axis.

5. An antiskid cross chain, comprising a main chain assembly formed of twisted links, a hook link at each end of the main chain assembly, an intermediate chain assembly formed of twisted links, the links of both chain assemblies being interlaced, and a ring link at each end of the intermediate chain assembly, each of said ring links contacting with and being attached to one of said hook links of the main chain assembly, each of the links being so formed that its extreme ends are at an angle of substantially 90 to each other, so that the end links of the chain may be placed at an angle of substantially 180 from each other, thereby placing an in'itialtwist in the chain between its ends.

FRANK E. STAHL. 

